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DeLauro to Lead Oversight Visit to Homestead Facility, Hold Hearing on Care of Children at the Border

July 10, 2019

Press Release

WASHINGTON, DC (July 10, 2019) – Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-03), Chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, today announced she will be leading an oversight visit to the Homestead shelter for unaccompanied children with Members of the Subcommittee on Monday, July 15th. DeLauro will also hold an oversight hearing on Wednesday, July 24th on the Office of Refugee Resettlement’s (ORR) Unaccompanied Children program—whose mission is to safely and expeditiously place children into care with sponsors, and over which her Subcommittee has jurisdiction.

“Congress has a moral responsibility to conduct oversight and ensure children in our care are being taken care of. That responsibility is heightened given the Trump Administration’s history of abuse toward children and families seeking refuge in the United States,” said DeLauro. “Too often, standards of care have been ignored, and children have languished in warehouse-like situations for months without being put into a sponsor’s care. And many kids recently had their access to education, legal services, and recreational activities cut. That is wrong, and it is not how we should be treating kids in the United States. We need to make sure these essential protections are there, especially given Congress’s recent allocation of emergency funding. The Trump Administration needs to be held accountable to do the right thing, and we will make sure that happens.”

DeLauro’s continued efforts led ORR to implement additional protections she included in the House-passed emergency funding bill, including working to place children in state-licensed facilities or a sponsor’s care within 90 days of being admitted to an influx facility, and notifying Congress within 24 hours if a child dies in its custody.

Further details of the oversight visit will be released later this week, and details for the hearing will be released next week.